The Mad and the Bad

29

Close up, the Moorish Tower appeared even more peculiar than in photographs. The place was obviously built upon several preexisting structures-the mountain cattle sheds that the Auvergnats call jasseries. But these had been literally buried by masonry, by low domes, barely level terraces, and formless piles of stones. There was nothing towerlike about the Moorish Tower. It had spread across the surface of the mountain without growing upward. It was like a Siamese temple flattened by power hammers.

Peter had halted near an outgrowth of the building with a dark opening like the entrance to a tunnel. Julie joined him, panting. She was shivering. The sky was violet, shadows cloaked the mountainside, and a pitted, yellowish moon floated at the horizon.

“There’s nobody here,” said Peter.

The labyrinthine stonework was indistinct. Julie approached the dark opening, stumbling amid pebbles and wild grass. Something rolled and clattered beneath her feet; she thought it was a can of food. A vague light twinkled in the tunnel. Julie went farther in and her forehead struck a bead curtain which began to jiggle and clink. Between its glass and wooden beads a room was visible. With a brusque movement of her left arm, Julie pushed the curtain aside and went on in.

She found herself at the side of a vaulted chamber furnished in nondescript fashion. A kitchen table, chairs, an ugly tiled floor.

“Hey!” she shouted. “Anyone here?”

A post office calendar was pinned to the enamel-painted wall. The picture was of cats in a basket. It was hideous. Julie contemplated it, swaying. She blinked. The calendar was immense. Was it a hallucination? The girl hobbled over to the wall and touched her hand to the color print. It was fifty centimeters long, at least. Julie gave a strangled cry, backed away, bumped into a chair, and felt her hair stand on end. The seat came up to the middle of her body and the table was almost on a level with her chin.

“It’s the Giant’s Castle,” cried Peter.

Eyes wide with terror, Julie wheeled around and saw a man emerge from the darkness at the far end of the crazy room. He wore blue work overalls. Yellowish strands of hair fell down over his broad brow. It was Fuentès. Julie tried to step back and felt herself falling.